The first of its kind in the Middle East - PSC Announces the Promotion of a Diploma in Managing Imports and Exports

Ramallah – The Palestinian Shippers’ Council (PSC) announced on March 24th 2014, during a training workshop held in Ramallah with the participation of the Ministry of National Economy and the support of UNCTAD, the launching of a specialized diploma in Managing Imports and Exports. The workshop was led by the international expert “Jonathan Walden” and addressed the terms of international trade, and was attended by Members of the Board of directors and representatives of import/export and clearance companies.

PSC Board of Directors member, Mr. Tawfiq Nassar, announced the promotion of a specialized diploma in Managing Imports and Exports, a precedent in the Middle East and North Africa. Such a diploma will introduce exporters and importers to the international trade terms in order to enable them to choose the appropriate shipping method, reduce the cost of import and export of goods, and thus reduce the cost on the consumer and increase the profit source.

Nassar said: “We will launch a specialized diploma in Managing Imports and Exports in cooperation with the local universities by the end of May and will start this project along with the center of Continuing Education at Birzeit University. The program is expected to introduce the techniques of legal drafting of a purchase contract, to international trade terms and methods of payment, and to export-import procedures of customs clearance”.

He also confirmed that the terms of international trade, which were the essence of this workshop, form a crucial component of this diploma. He pointed out that 11 professional Palestinian trainers are to be coached by Mr. Walden, the international expert whose known for training many importers and exporters. Mr. Nassar added that PSC will offer this diploma twice a year to trainees who have concluded a six-month training course that will take in 24 participants at least, and hopes that later on, this diploma will develop to include more disciplines.

PSC Director General, Dr. Said Khalidi, stated that this workshop is an integral part of PSC’s efforts to introduce its members to the latest developments and laws of international trade in order to familiarize them with the rules and terms of international trade, clarify the relationship between the exporter and importer regarding the transformation of risks, commitments, costs, and to avoid misunderstanding problems. He endorsed the value of being introduced to international trade terms within a logistics management program that aims at building the capacity of import and export specialists working in the private and public sectors, as well as to build the capacity of new graduates who wish to work in this field, hence opening doors for better job opportunities.

The International expert Mr. Jonathan Walden, focused in this workshop on introducing the international trade terms, their origins, objectives, scope of work, terms of the International Trade for the year 2010, and the responsibilities defined by these terms (transformation of risks, commitments,splitting the cost). He also emphasized on the importance of ensuring the goods according to international trade terms, and ran a comparison between international trade terms and maritime shipping terms.